Gollum
by tailar
Summary: Okay, so this one is not finished, and the title is subject to change in the near future. Feel free to give me suggestions! To previous readers, I apologize that my clip art scene breaks disappeared, and hopefully the confusion is cleared up now.
1. Chapter 1

---Please read A Meeting of Heirs before reading this, as I had a stupid moment and based some aspects of this story off of that story. ---

Gandalf peered into the shadows around him, looking for the particular deeper shadow he knew was there. The friend he had called was never late, but often found it amusing to watch the old wizard try to find him. "All right, I give up. I don't have time for this so just get over here," Gandalf growled as he sat down cross-legged on the ground. One of the tree trunks across the clearing suddenly split in two, and a seven-and-a-half-foot section glided over to sit across from him. Aragorn pushed back the voluminous hood of his mottled, dark green cloak and looked at the wizard expectantly. "You know I hate it when you do that," Gandalf grumbled. The way the Ranger seemed to just appear still startled him, and he knew Aragorn knew it. "I need your help."

"Obviously. What for?"

Gandalf's bushy eyebrows came together and jutted out over his smoldering eyes as he glared with enough intensity to make a dwarf run for cover. Aragorn steepled his fingers and waited calmly. Gandalf shook his head and reminded himself that there was little time, and it was fast running out.

"I must find the creature Gollum. He was once called Sméagol, and I fear he possesses information that may prove to be disastrous in the wrong hands. I have searched for him for weeks now, and every time I think I have him, the trail goes cold. I last found signs of him on the very northern edge of the Emyn Muil. I hope he is not headed for Mordor, but that seems to be the case."

"What kind of information?" Aragorn's expression showed nothing but a casual interest, but Gandalf had long since learned that the grim Ranger was never casual about anything. He was also exceedingly stubborn and infuriatingly clever. He would wheedle out what he wanted to know with very little effort, and Gandalf would accomplish nothing by trying to fool him except to lose his trust.

"When I led those dwarves to defeat Smaug all those years ago, we were waylaid by goblins and forced to pass under the mountains rather than over them. Bilbo encountered Gollum in a cave there. He had found a ring in the tunnels, and Gollum complained of having lost one. The ring allows Bilbo to become invisible, and though I am not yet sure which one, I believe it is a Ring of Power."

Aragorn cocked an eyebrow at this, but all he said was, "Allows?"

"Yes. Bilbo still has the ring in his possession, and therein lies the problem. Gollum knows Bilbo has it, and he also knows who he is and where he is from."

"Ah. So, if Sauron were to get ahold of Gollum, he would find out about the ring _and_ have the Shire brought to his attention."

"Yes."

"Well, I suppose I don't have a choice. Tell me all you can about him, and I'll see what I can do."

o O o

_How do we know Gollum is even still alive? It's been nearly sixteen years since Gandalf first asked for my help, and neither of us has found anything in all that time._ Aragorn sagged down against one of the few stunted trees that still grew in the Dead Marshes. The constant watchfulness required this close to Mordor was beginning to wear him down, and his food supplies had run out the previous morning. _If Gollum is still alive, then he's too clever for even me to catch. There is nothing more I can do here, and even if there were, I doubt I could do it at the moment._

Forcing himself to get back on his feet, he began the long, treacherous path out of the Marshes. Suddenly, something caught his eye; the mark of feet by one of the pools, a track severely out of place in this harsh landscape. Crouching down, he studied the footprints, noting their size, depth, and direction. they were rather large, but barely made a dent in the soft ground, and were obviously not wearing any kind of shoe, all key characteristics in the tracks of a Hobbit--Or a Hobbit-like creature. Maintaining his crouch, he moved away from the tracks, down the only path through the Marshes, following the small disturbances in the soggy ground and sickly grasses that signaled someone had passed this way recently.

Nearly half an hour later, the Ranger froze, eyes fixed on his prey. A small, gangly creature wearing only a tattered loincloth was crouched next to a pool, snacking on a handful of bugs he seemed to have gathered from the soil, and staring intently at the fish circling in the water in front of him. Suddenly, he lunged, snatched one, and instantly ripped off a bite with his sharp teeth.

Ignoring the small lurch that the sudden, brutal death of the fish gave him, Aragorn moved forward over the boggy ground, stalking as only the finest hunter could, until he was barely six feet behind Gollum. Holding his breath, he waited for Gollum to tear another bite form the poor fish, then he lunged, swirling his cloak over the creature's head and wrapping an arm around the screeching, flailing bundle. Wincing a little as Gollum's hard feet slammed into his knee, he pulled a rope from his belt pouch and managed to secure his captive. But Gollum was far from finished. As Aragorn pulled his cloak from around the creature's head, Gollum lunged and sank his teeth into the Ranger's hand, snarling like a rabid beast. He lashed out with a foot as the man tried to grab the back of his neck, catching the Ranger in the stomach. Aragorn doubled over with pain, but managed to reach out and lock the fingers of his free hand under the hinge of Gollum's jaw and pry his teeth apart. _All right_,_ that's it_._ I've had just about enough of this already_. Planting his knee firmly on Gollum's chest, he gagged the snarling creature and took hold of the long end of the rope. Narrowing his keen eyes dangerously at his prisoner, he stood up and growled, "Move."


	2. Chapter 2

Over a month and a half later, he stood watching as the great gate that barred the way into Thranduil's stronghold opened silently on its giant hinges. A handful of elves emerged, watching Gollum warily with hands on their knife hilts. "Is this the creature Mithrandir requested we take custody of until he arrives?"

"Yes. Be careful, he's got quite a nasty streak in him." Aragorn could have danced for joy as the elves came and took Gollum away from him; could have, that is, if he had not been so utterly exhausted. Having to avoid all risk of Sauron's detection, including giving Dol Guldur a very wide berth, had made the journey nearly three times longer than it could have been. He'd had to cut across the River Anduin, then over Limlight, Nimrodel, and Silverlode, up the borders of Lothlórien and the Gladden Fields to the Carrock, then through the entire width of Northern Mirkwood to the Elves' Stronghold. The journey would not have been particularly leisurely under any circumstances, but being forced to keep a wary eye on Gollum all 300 leagues of it while foraging enough food for both of them at the same time was hard on even him.

He followed the elves across the bridge, not at all looking forward to being back in their caves. A wave of nausea made him pause and squeeze his eyes shut as he crossed the threshold. _Perhaps I wasn't as ready for this as I thought_. _It might be best to just have someone tell Thranduil I'm here and wait outside_. As though the elf king had heard his thoughts, the huge doors slammed shut with a terrific bang. _Never mind_._ I guess I get to tell him myself_.

The huge throne room was exactly as he remembered it from his last 'visit' to Thranduil's fortress. Thranduil himself looked almost exactly the same, right down to the bored expression on his angular features. Legolas stood just behind and to the right of the throne, looking even more bored than his father. The elf prince visibly brightened, however, when Aragorn entered the room behind Gollum and the guards. Thranduil did not. He appeared rather anxious. The guards approached the throne and made their bows; Aragorn hung back a little with his arms crossed and inclined his head the slightest bit in the elf king's general direction. Thranduil's lips tightened, but he did not comment on the Ranger's lack of propriety. Legolas bit his lip, silent laughter making his eyes sparkle and his shoulders twitch.

Thranduil turned to the guards. "This is the creature, Gollum?"

"Yes, my lord."

"Has a message been sent to Mithrandir?"

"Not yet, my lord."

"I sent one, and I passed through Lórien on my way here, so I'm sure messengers have already been sent from there as well."

Thranduil turned in surprise at Aragorn's soft voice. "But how could you possibly have sent a message when you were alone?"

"A hawk agreed to fly to Rivendell for me. One of my cousins is in the area, and he will relay the message to Gandalf."

"A hawk?" Thranduil looked puzzled for a moment, then understanding dawned in his face. "Of course. I had forgotten that your people can also converse with beasts."

"Animals," the Ranger muttered. Thranduil ignored him.

During the discussion, Legolas had been slowly edging away from his father's side. Now, as the king's attention returned to the guards, he hopped over to talk to Aragorn. Thranduil was extremely thorough in his interrogation, and after ten minutes of high-speed whispering in his own tongue, the elf prince had manged to share all of the interesting news he had to tell, and got the Ranger to tersely answer a few questions. He also took note of the fatigue in his friend's silver eyes, the dark circles under them, and realized with some alarm that the Ranger was even thinner than usual.

Despite the cool of the room, Aragorn was beginning to feel rather feverish. His head ached, and as Thranduil finished instructing the guards on how to care for "Mithrandir's new friend", his usually perfect vision began swimming. Closing his eyes as his earlier nausea returned, he tried with all his might to pull himself out of the blackness that threatened to envelop him.

Legolas turned to ask his father what sort of lodging was to be arranged for their other guest, then spun back around in shock as the Ranger collapsed in a dead faint on the stone floor.

The chamber was plunged into chaos.

The elf guards all stood gaping for a moment, and then crowded around the unconscious man loudly inquiring of each other, their king, and their prince what could have possibly have affected Aragorn so suddenly. Thranduil leapt out of his chair and shoved through his jabbering subjects to kneel on the opposite side of the prone man from Legolas. The prince was busy examining Aragorn for injuries that had either caused the fall or been caused by it; finding nothing but a new scar on the Ranger's hand that looked suspiciously like teeth marks, he began loosening Aragorn's clothing as his father got back on his feet and started barking at the other elves to "cease their jabbering" and "get a room made ready" and "get some water in here immediately!"

"One of the normal rooms, my lord?" one of them asked, as his fellows groaned and rolled their eyes.

"Yes, Maelar, one of the normal rooms," Thranduil replied slowly, as though speaking to a child. "Where else would we possibly put him?"

_The normal rooms?!_ Comprehension hit Legolas as though he'd been struck in the face. _Of course! __**In the caves!**__ That's it! _"No, my lord! That's just the problem." Thranduil looked rather affronted at being gainsaid, but Legolas ignored his expression, certain that his conclusion was right. "When Aragorn was last here, he told me that being underground tended to make him rather ill. If he was already worn out when he got here, then perhaps it wouldn't have taken very long." Thranduil continued to stare at him as though the elf king had absolutely no notion of where this information was supposed to lead him. "He needs to be _outside_, my lord," Legolas urged.

"Well, I suppose that could be it..." Thranduil hesitated over whether or not to take his son's harebrained idea seriously, when suddenly the large dog kept by the guards at the gate came bounding into the room (1). Her keepers were right on her heels, but she refused to be hampered in her mission. She galloped over to where Aragorn still lay on the floor and, whining pitifully, proceeded to lick his face and hands, before grasping his shirt collar in her teeth and attempting to drag him towards the door.

As the now rather large crowd of guards in the room gathered around and attempted to pull the dog away, Thranduil looked resignedly at his son. "All right, you may take him outside. But I want a healer and a guard with him at all times. He is your responsibility now, and Elrond will have my head if we let him die."

(1)--The guard dog was introduced in "A Meeting of Heirs". She licked Aragorn's hand the first time he was in Thranduil's caves and got a bit claustrophobic.


	3. Chapter 3

Nearly two days later, Aragorn groaned and stirred. Knowing it was probably a bad idea, he allowed his eyes to flutter open; noontime sunlight nearly blinded him for a moment, but then was abruptly cut off. After blinking several times he managed to make out Legolas kneeling over him frowning concernedly. He raised an eyebrow at the elf, and Legolas' frown deepened.

"Don't look at me like that, you could have _died_! You _would_ have died had I not been paying attention the last time you were here; Father wanted to keep you in the caves."

"Well, then, I guess it's a very good thing you were listening so raptly to my complaints." Wincing, Aragorn sat up slowly as Legolas put a steadying hand on his shoulder. "Next time, at least make an effort to catch me," he grumbled.

"Oh, do you plan on swooning every time you have occasion to visit, then?" Aragorn did not quite manage to hide his amusement at the elf's exasperation, and Legolas began muttering curses under his breath in his own tongue (apparently forgetting that the Ranger could understand him perfectly) as he stalked away and began digging things out of a pack under a nearby tree. Smiling, Aragorn glanced around and met nearly two dozen pairs of eyes peeking out from the bushes and lower boughs of the trees nearest him--it appeared the local squirrels, rabbits, and birds had been concerned for his health. As soon as he saw them they scattered, disappearing as though they had never been there.

Legolas came back, still muttering and bearing a water skin, bread, and several apples. Suddenly aware that he was ravenously hungry, Aragorn turned carefully to ease back against a tree and accepted the food gratefully. "So, did I miss anything?"

The elf prince sighed and rolled his eyes. _Rangers! _"Well, you have been here two days so far. We had started to fear that you would never recover when Mithrandir arrived this morning. He came to see you, said you were a fool to do this to yourself, and pronounced that there was nothing coul be done though you would probably wake up sometime this afternoon, anyway."

"Good old Gandalf. I don't know what I would do without him." Aragorn muttered and sank his teeth into the second apple.

"Well, he's right. If you hadn't worn yourself so thin, you might not have collapsed in there the way you did. Anyway, then he went to speak with the creature you brought and he has been there ever since." The elf prince looked quizzically at Aragorn. "What does he want with Gollum, anyway?"

"Information."

"It must be important for him to have called on you and rushed here so quickly."

"If it is, I'm sure we will find out about it eventually when it poses a threat to our existence."

"Are you always this full of hope?" Legolas asked, smiling wryly at his friend.

"No. Uninterrupted rest and a full stomach tend to put me in a good mood."

"Oh, I see. Well, my father will probably be wanting to know that you're awake, and he will no doubt wish to hear all of the news from Imladris."

"It has been near seven years since I was last there."

"Yes, well, I believe it has been near 3000 years since he was last there."

Aragorn opened his mouth as if he wished to argue further, but then shut it again when he could not think of anything to say to that statement. Sighing reluctantly, he grasped the hand Legolas offered and allowed the elf to pull him to his feet.

o O o

"No, I will not."

Aragorn stood at the end of the bridge leading to the great doors of the caves and flatly refused to succumb to Legolas' pleading.

"But the king wants to see you!"

"If he wants to see me that badly then he can march right out here and do it."

Legolas appeared utterly horrified at this statement and stammered, "B-but, he's the king!"

"As I said the last time I was here, Thranduil is _not my king_. And I am _not_ going back in _there_," he said, pointing an accusing finger at the great cave, "to make _him_ happy!" Aragorn's tone left no room for argument, and even if it had, the glint in his silver eyes did not. He crossed his arms and looked at the elf prince as if daring him to keep trying. Miserably, Legolas turned and started across the bridge to inform his father of the Ranger's pronouncement.


End file.
